|
July, 2010
A real case “Male lawyer successful in claim for sex discrimination”
A rare instance of a man claiming sex discrimination...
Employee wellbeing – did you know…
effective line management can be critical to employee engagement and well being at work. Please read more for some interesting key facts...
One case appeal that we will be watching for in the coming months will be Eversheds appeal against the decision that an employment tribunal found in an associate solicitors favour. The associate solicitor claimed that he suffered “unlawful sex discrimination”. He argued that he was wrongfully selected for redundancy because his bosses feared that they would be sued if they selected his female colleague whilst she was on maternity leave. The tribunal awarded the solicitor £123,000 in damages in a rare instance of a man claiming sex discrimination. You may ask yourself the question, so why is this important? This case is a rare occasion where a male employee was held to have been subjected to discrimination on the grounds of his sex. So often, people associate sex discrimination with claims brought by female employees. Yet this case is an example of a male arguing on the basis that he was treated less favourably that a female colleague, who was on maternity leave. This is a reminder that redundancy selection and scoring must be legitimately and fairly applied with appropriate weighting and points awarded on objective and justified grounds. We will monitor this case over the coming months and report back to you!
As reported in the previous newsletter edition, PicassoHR attended an exhibition in June, delivering a presentation on employee wellbeing. If you missed the event, here is an opportuity to learn about some interesting facts and information we shared from our research investigations.
- In 2009, the CIPD's absence research reported that the average number of day’s absence has actually reduced to 7.4 days per year (public sector average is higher at 9.7 days and private sector at 6.4 days). This statistic is the lowest for a number of years, attributed to the recession and concerns about job security.
- In 2009, the CIPD absence management survey reported that the average cost of sickness absence in the UK was £692 per employee per annum.
- The Mind Report of May 2010 indicated that 1 in 10 people have seen their GP as a result of pressure in the workplace since the recession began. It is suggested that there may be a further surge of stress and ill health in the workplace during the current recession.
- The average time off for stress was 21 days per employee, with an average of 30 days for depression.
- A survey in the same Mind report found that 42% of employees are under excessive stress, 57% under more pressure as a result of the recession and one third were concerned about redundancy. A further two thirds feel that finding a new job would be very difficult and 6 out of 10 people are worried for what the future holds!
- The Mental Health in the Workplace Survey reported that 25% of employees described their mental health as being poor or very poor with 98% of these continuing to attend work regularly.
- In the same survey, nearly 4 out of 5 employees (78%) who have poor mental health find it difficult to concentrate at work. This clearly highlights the business case for employers to take this seriously.
What all the research suggests is that effective line management can be critical to employee engagement and well being at work. Poor management is considered to be the main cause of conflict at work with management style being one of the top causes of stress in the workplace. Therefore, to end on a positive note, PicassoHR can help guide and advise on such concerns and hopefully minimise the expensive costs of non-attendance and absenteeism from work.
| 
